Did Michelle Obama Spend $50,000 On Lingerie?

“Agent Provocateur sales boosted by US First Lady Michelle Obama,” went the title of a post on the Telegraph yesterday, “Michelle Obama has risked the wrath of cash-strapped Americans by indulging in a $50,000 shopping spree at Agent Provocateur.” The Madison Ave location closed down, so the story goes, in order for Obama to mindlessly consume frilly underthings alongside the Queen of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah. “Their purchases contributed to a market-spanking 12.5pc lift in sales,” the paper adds.

Very interesting! Agent Provocateur bras and panties hover in the $200 territory, where big ticket items like corsets, playsuits and gowns still remain (mostly) under $1000. Making a concerted effort to, for example, completely overhaul the White House underwear drawer could believably result in $10,000 but $50? That’s preposterous.

Unsurprisingly, the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissed the story, per WWD:

“At least when I was a reporter, usually the standard for British tabloid reporting was the assumption that it was false. In this case, it’s utterly false, and it’s irresponsible of an American news organization to repeat the story, even allowing that it could be true. So it’s wrong.”

But the press pack wasn’t going to give up that easily on such a titillating tale. Pressed on whether he could provide evidence that the stories were wrong, Carney said: “I’m not going to go there….It’s false.”

Sick burn on calling the Telegraph a tabloid.

Could you/would you spend $50k in a sitting on lingerie? If so, please tell us in the comments exactly when you first lost touch with reality.